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HitokiriX Trick Member
Joined: 27 Mar 2004 Location: Berwyn, PA |
3400. Posted: Fri Jan 21, 2005 6:34 pm Post subject: |
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Hey padmaker can you tell me if there really is a point of getting birch wood specifically instead of plywood or some other type? Is it stronger or more durable or something? I'd really like to know since I don't really want to have my pad like crack at the base at any time because I cut into the base to thread my wire through it and didn't use birch like you said. Birch also seems to be a lot more expensive than plywood
Last edited by HitokiriX on Fri Jan 21, 2005 8:22 pm, edited 1 time in total |
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peepsluvr Trick Member
Joined: 09 Jan 2005
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3401. Posted: Fri Jan 21, 2005 7:12 pm Post subject: |
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[quote="grgisme"] Quote: |
Can I do a test like touch a wire on the ground and then touch a directional button? |
Yes a test like that should work, if you plug the controller in, stick in a game (ddr would be fine), and then touch a wire from one of the directional points to the hypothetical ground point. (Someone please correct me if I'm wrong here, lets not confuse this poor boy.) Or plug in the controller, turn on the ps2 (doesn't matter if a game is in), and use a multimeter to touch the red to the any directional contact and the black to the various contacts until you get a voltage of some sort, that's your ground point. I know this works because I've done it.
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Thank you soooo much! I plugged in my controller last night and the spot you thought was the ground, was the ground. I'm glad I got my controller problems out of the way. And it wasn't a bad controller either; a pretty good one for $1.99! |
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SuRfReAk Trick Member
Joined: 19 Dec 2004
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HitokiriX Trick Member
Joined: 27 Mar 2004 Location: Berwyn, PA |
3403. Posted: Fri Jan 21, 2005 8:20 pm Post subject: |
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i can't seem to find the network female end. I can find lots of network cables...but not anything to plug em into. does anyone else know where to find it? I'm also having trouble finding the pushbuttons for start, select, etc. |
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adamthole Trick Member
Joined: 15 Jan 2005
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3404. Posted: Fri Jan 21, 2005 9:10 pm Post subject: |
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radio shack will have your push buttons |
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grgisme Trick Member
Joined: 07 Aug 2004 Location: Melbourne, Florida |
3405. Posted: Fri Jan 21, 2005 9:36 pm Post subject: |
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Hitokirix: Not sure what kind of cable you're using, but check the hardware stores for outlet boxes and recepticles for whatever "female" you're looking for. That's the only place I could think to find them. I'll post links if I see any.
Peepsluver: Good to hear you got the controller bit solved. Just clarifying it wasn't me who told you which one was ground though :-), that was cartoon_hero. We're all a team though. |
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HitokiriX Trick Member
Joined: 27 Mar 2004 Location: Berwyn, PA |
3406. Posted: Sat Jan 22, 2005 7:40 am Post subject: |
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adamthole wrote: | radio shack will have your push buttons |
Radio shack that's the place! I was lookin in circuit city sorry... but you gotta admit they do sound a little similar....radio shack...circuit city....get it? |
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grgisme Trick Member
Joined: 07 Aug 2004 Location: Melbourne, Florida |
3407. Posted: Sat Jan 22, 2005 3:14 pm Post subject: |
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Okay, I said "radio shack, circuit city" out loud like 100 times and it still doesn't sound alike. You're nuts. LoL. (No I'm not that blonde.)
I've purchased 50 UV leds for $4.00, and I'll be using those to nail down my circuit over the next week or so. I found 16 square feet of 1/2" plywood in my garage that will be used for the sheet metal panels (that's a money saver!), and I went out today and bought a $2.00 controller and a $3.00 extension cable from a local business called "Game Source". Talk about cheap so far :-). I need the extension cable because its one of the few kind of ps2 cords that actually carry the 8volts through them, so I'll cut it off right before the female end and just use wire connectors to connect all the correct wires to the correct wires going into the controller, and add my own wire to carry the 8volts further into the pad. I need to find a housing for my control box, I'm probably going to be buying some sort of box from radioshack. I'm going to wait to buy this though, perhaps you guys know where I can find some real cheap metal boxes to use for my control box enclosures. I'll end up making 4 at first(2 for ps2 & 2 for xbox), and 8 eventually (all of those plus 2 for gamecube and 2 more for PC). |
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ropeadope Trick Member
Joined: 20 Jul 2004
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3408. Posted: Sat Jan 22, 2005 3:31 pm Post subject: Re: Mad Catz Modification |
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I just realised i don't quite get that turtorial.
So your only supposed to tape one half at a time? |
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grgisme Trick Member
Joined: 07 Aug 2004 Location: Melbourne, Florida |
3409. Posted: Sat Jan 22, 2005 3:35 pm Post subject: |
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I just read through it and I get it, so quote the part you don't understand and I'll explain it. |
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theinsanitytest Trick Member
Joined: 02 Jan 2005
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3410. Posted: Sat Jan 22, 2005 4:36 pm Post subject: |
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where is padmakers guide?, because i am making a 9 step dance pad rockhopper (the other guy who made one) said he used padmakers design. i looked for it but couldn't find it
where is it? |
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ropeadope Trick Member
Joined: 20 Jul 2004
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3411. Posted: Sat Jan 22, 2005 5:33 pm Post subject: |
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I get most of it now actually, but i have to buy two different things of hardware floor covering and tape them together around the mat?
I went to Home depot earlier and they didn't have any plywood too close to the correct size. |
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adamthole Trick Member
Joined: 15 Jan 2005
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3412. Posted: Sat Jan 22, 2005 6:44 pm Post subject: |
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theinsanitytest wrote: | where is padmakers guide?, because i am making a 9 step dance pad rockhopper (the other guy who made one) said he used padmakers design. i looked for it but couldn't find it
where is it? |
http://www.2legacy.com/ddrpad/
Good luck with the 9 button dance pad. I'm still deciding if I want to go for 9, or just 4, or 6, and if I want it to have lights.... |
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HitokiriX Trick Member
Joined: 27 Mar 2004 Location: Berwyn, PA |
3413. Posted: Sat Jan 22, 2005 6:45 pm Post subject: |
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grgisme wrote: | Okay, I said "radio shack, circuit city" out loud like 100 times and it still doesn't sound alike. You're nuts. LoL. (No I'm not that blonde.) |
Well..both of the first words are related to electronics and the second are both....houses i guess. I have a creative imagination so don't mind me.
Anyway I dont' know why but padmaker seems to have left the DDRfreak forums for a bit. Maybe he'll come back later. Anyway I hope to make my pad soon. Maybe I'll post some pics too. It's gonna be a hybrid of EVERYONE'S designs. My pad will be the biggest copy of all DDR history! MUAHAHAHAH!!!! |
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grgisme Trick Member
Joined: 07 Aug 2004 Location: Melbourne, Florida |
3414. Posted: Sat Jan 22, 2005 7:23 pm Post subject: |
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Quote: | I get most of it now actually, but i have to buy two different things of hardware floor covering and tape them together around the mat?
I went to Home depot earlier and they didn't have any plywood too close to the correct size. |
I think the hardware floor covering just comes in a roll (so it appears in the pictures), and you just cut off what you need to use, either that or you buy a piece big enough and cut it in half. Or buying 2 pieces (each big enough to cover half of the pad) would work too.
As far as the plywood, if you mean thickness, that's insignificant. If you mean a piece of plywood that is big enough as far as the length and width of it goes, you can always get a bigger piece and cut it (if you have any kind of power saw at all... you could do it with a handheld saw... would take a while and not be so straight though). Just make sure you get a piece of plywood that is at least as big as your pad. The point is just to give a hard surface under the pad and a semi-solid surface above the pad (the hardwood floor covering). Hope that helped some.
Sat down with a friend today and went over my whole design to make sure it works (another set of eyes and another brain always helps), and it does, though we're going to revisit my led circuit, and may change it from series to parallel (in order to light more leds). I'm going to start construction of my frame tommorrow. It's going to be time consuming and tedious (you'll see once I show you my slight modification to Riptide's design), but if all goes smoothly it will be much more user friendly once it's built.
So, in summary, my electronical components have been ordered and are in route, I'm about to buy the rest of the building materials I need tommorrow, and I have the controller and such that I need. So let the building commence!
Last edited by grgisme on Sat Jan 22, 2005 7:54 pm, edited 1 time in total |
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grgisme Trick Member
Joined: 07 Aug 2004 Location: Melbourne, Florida |
3415. Posted: Sat Jan 22, 2005 7:51 pm Post subject: Little something I made in Flash... |
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Alright, this is for primarily my purposes, but thought I'd post it for fun too. This is a to scale depiction of the building of a pad. It's not perfect clearly, but if someone is confused on how something goes together... this may help. And if it doesn't help, turn your head sideways, close one eye, and blink the other one repeatedly... maybe it'll help then. LoL, it's pretty cool though: check it out. (You have to have Flash Player 6 to watch). Since its in flash you can right-click and uncheck "Play" to temporarily pause it at certain parts and study my "design" more closely. You can also zoom in and out similarly, just right click and select zoom in. To get it to play again just right-click and recheck "Play". Like I said though, it's a work in progress (both the drawings and the design itself).
http://www.geocities.com/grgisme2001/myddrpadmovie.html |
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theinsanitytest Trick Member
Joined: 02 Jan 2005
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3416. Posted: Sat Jan 22, 2005 8:25 pm Post subject: |
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all that did was confuse me
J/K..... i thought it was good and it will proably serve a purpose to someone that is doing somin similar to that |
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pandaran Basic Member
Joined: 22 Jan 2005 Location: California, US |
3417. Posted: Sun Jan 23, 2005 9:35 pm Post subject: Red Octane control box |
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Hiya everyone. I just started reading up on this stuff last night, so please pardon any dumb questions.
My boyfriend and I have been planning on building a pair of these pads for some time. I have a PS2 and he has and XBOX, but I'm sure a lot of you have already discovered that the PS2 to XBOX adapter lags, rendering it unusable. We just ran across the Red Octane XBOX/PSX(2) control box. Have any of you tried it? Would you consider it a success?
We've also got a fun idea for lights. We're going to etch an image into the bottom of the plexi and have some LEDs shine in from the side. I'll let you know how that turns out.
And I've read that both Riptide's and DDRhomepad's designs feel a lot like the arcade pads. Thepadmaker's design looks pretty slick, though. How does it feel to play on?
I also read somewhere that some kinds of glue (for attaching the sheet metal to the wood squares) crackle and stuff when you step on them. And I know a lot of people are using spray adhesive, but it doesn't seem like it would keep a very good hold for all that long. What's the best kind of glue to use?
Thanks for the input! |
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pandaran Basic Member
Joined: 22 Jan 2005 Location: California, US |
3418. Posted: Sun Jan 23, 2005 9:38 pm Post subject: hehe |
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Oh, one more question. And I'll try not to be so long winded in the future.
We tried doing a softpad mod originally, but the first time we tried taking them to someone else's house for a party the boards warped just enough to make the clear plastic we covered them with push down on some of the buttons. >P So annoying. Is that an issue with any of the current metal pad designs? |
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pyro4fire Basic Member
Joined: 30 Dec 2004
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3419. Posted: Sun Jan 23, 2005 11:09 pm Post subject: |
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grgisme wrote: | You underestimate me :-). I'm going to have two seperate circuits, so I'll be using strips of sheet metal, or something along those lines, rather than the one large square of sheet metal. The controller circuit won't come into contact with the 8 volts AT ALL. I'm even going to split the ground wire before it enters the controller, so I won't have to worry about it AT ALL. The controller will never see that 8 volts. |
so how you getting the 8v out of the pad without it going through the controler? what are you grounding to?? |
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